Persecution
by BlackWolfHowling
Summary: The Christian church is being persecuted, and a group of highschoolers take it upon themselves to stop it. But can they stay alive long enough to do it?
1. Prologue

_AN: Anyone who's looked on my recently updated profile knows what this is. This is me trying to witness to non-believers through writing. This will be a first-person fic that takes place mostly through journal entries. _

It was a different time, this event that I speak of. A time where the persecution of Christians, an event that has happened in the past before, was again taking place. No government is sure how this came about, they know only that it did. Non-government people don't know of this, because it was kept classified in an attempt to keep the governments of today stable. However, it didn't stop the rumors from happening… happening, and spreading. I, one of those non-government officials, heard the rumors and was curious about them, so I…looked into them. Well, to be honest, I actually hacked into the government files to find out if they were true. To my horror, they were. I saw several horrible, but impersonal accounts of that time. Until I chanced upon a high-school girl's account of the persecution. I didn't waste time. I immediately set about making this known to the public, using the fasted method possible. The Internet. This, is her story…


	2. Journal Log 1:

AN: I changed my mind about doing it mostly through journal entries. Instead, only a few chapters will be in this format.

Disclaimer: I don't own the following music video (remove the spaces): h t t p / y o u t u b e . c o m / w a t c h ? v K F v o U B 1 e p E g & p l a y n e x t 7 & p l a y n e x t f r o m Q L 

This is Lisa Beldon. I'm writing this down in the hopes that I can one day publicize this horror that has overcome the human race. One day Christian revival efforts were going strong, and the next the religion itself was forbidden. People have been trashing it every day since then and nothing has happened to them, but when we Christians have tried to spread the good news, they were brutally beaten. I myself have nearly had my wrist broken by the beatings. I now realize what Jesus must have gone through when he was crucified. His friends turned against him, and he was brutally whipped. But, as Christ did not despair, so neither will I. My Christian friends have told me that they heard a rumor that school assemblies cutting down Christianity will start by the end of the month. I'll admit to being terrified at the thought, but Christ will give me peace that passes all understanding, and he will see me through. For now, my brothers and sisters in Christ will gather daily in secret, and discuss ways to bring others into our family... and how to stay alive.


	3. Sent to the Past

_AN: For those of you who aren't fond of Sci-Fi, you're going to hate me. Because in order to get out of first person, I'm gonna have to go Sci-Fi on you. So this will probably be the last first person chapter for a while._

_Note: All new names will be the names of fellow believers._

_Disclaimer: I don't own the bible verse in this chapter or Left Behind: The Kids_

_Looking at Lisa Beldon's accounts on the persecution is inspiring me to do more for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ._ I thought while downloading the first journal entry onto my computer to send to the world.

Suddenly, my world started to spin, faster and faster it went, until it stopped abruptly. But I soon found out it wasn't an ordinary dizzy spell. For after it stopped, I heard the most beautiful music, most likely trumpets and other horns from the sound of them. Then, the voice. A male voice that resonated in my head, yet sounded as if it were right next to me.

"Susan Alston." He said.

"Lord?" I responded, even though I couldn't speak aloud.

"I have a task for you in the past which you are speaking about."

"Instruct me and I will obey." Was all I said in response.

With that, I felt myself wake up. Only I wasn't in my room. I was beside a school, in some bushes_."I must have fallen asleep. And when I told the Lord that I would obey, was sent here."_ I didn't have much time to contemplate the matter, though. Because right then, the school bell rang. I tried to join the flood of people, but they noticed that I was a stranger with no book-bag.

"Are you lost?" A pleasant sounding female voice asked.

"Are you Lisa Beldon?" I asked quickly, ignoring her question for the moment.

"How do you know my name? Who are you?" She asked quickly, backing away from me slightly.

"I know that this will sound crazy, but God sent me to your time from the future for whatever reason. And I know that he's looking out for me because he sent you to me in my time of need."

"You're right, it does sound crazy. But I welcome you as a sister in Christ nonetheless." She said smiling.

I quickly told her my story and she introduced me to her friends, who listened to my story and embraced me, thanking God for bringing me to them safely.

"It's dangerous to talk about God in public." Steven, a brother in Christ said.

"We're trying to come up with a way to identify other believers." Lisa told me.

"I think I can help with that. Does everyone have Internet access or can some not afford it?" I asked.

"As far as I know they do." John said.

"As I said, I have a knack with computers. I can make a Christian site and advertise it."

"What about the people who are trying to hurt us?" Lisa asked bringing up her hand which she said had almost been broken because a gang on non-believers jumped her.

"It will have a password that changes daily."

"What kind of password can we tell others and ensure that they're believers?" Asked Steven.

"We won't tell them. I plan to use Bible verses. It will either be a fill in the blank, give the verse, or give the reference."

"What do you mean?" Eva asked.

"I'll write down an example." I said, getting out a pencil and paper. For so world that His one and that whoever in shall not but have . 3:16

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 NIV." All of the believers quoted.

"I'll do that each day, and I'll make sure it's random. And to reach other believers, I'll make another site and we can all add stuff to it. Like in Left Behind: The Kids." I said.

"Sounds like a plan." Said Lisa. "Let's do it.


	4. The Plan

The next day, as Susan still wasn't enrolled in school yet, she found herself with a lot of free-time on her hands. Not believing a wasting time, she decided to do some work on her laptop, which was in a bag that she always had with her.

"It sure is weird being the in year 2020, considering that I come from the year 3040. Well, at least the technology is still pretty much the same." She mused as she worked. 

She was so engrossed in her project that she didn't even hear the door open.

"What are you doing, Susan?" Asked a friendly voice. Susan turned around in surprise at the voice, then recognized her friend whose name she could not quite place. "Joe." He said, noticing her confusion and smiling slightly.

"You mean the genius can't remember a few names?" Asked another of her friends jokingly.

"Lay off her, Mark. She just got here yesterday and is trying to sort through a few new names."

"I know, I know. Sheesh, Joe. You'd think I was tormenting the girl from the way your talking. You like her or something?"

"Is that allowed, considering she's both from the future and a sister in Christ?" Joe said, his voice pleasant enough but with the slightest edge to it.

"Play nice, children." Said a third voice, one of the few people Susan knew, who was named Allis.

"Anyway, what are you doing, Susan?" Asked Lisa, returing to the original subject.

"A power-point." She answered, focusing on her screen.

"What's on it?" Joe asked, interested.

"Some of my favorite Christian songs along with some of the more powerful Christian images. I'm going to hopefully make several of these, each one of them different, and interrupt a few of the 'Let's bash the Lord' assemblies." She said.

"That's a good idea. We've been honing our skills to witness the Word, too."

"Really? What can y'all do? I might be able to incorporate those skills into one of my power-points."

"Y'all?" Mark asked, ignoring the question for the moment.

"Sorry. One of my best friends grew up in the South and I guess I picked up some of her dialect without noticing it." Susan said by way of explanation.

"Well, Mark, Ester, and I are in the colorguard; Joe and Eva sing; and Tom, Allis, and Frank dance."

"Speaking of Tom and Frank, where are they? Susan hasn't met them yet so you're probably confusing her by talking about them." Mark said.

"Somebody say our names?" Asked a pleasant voice.

"Their they are. Tom, Frank, I'd like you to meet Susan, the girl from 3040 who was sent here by God to help us out." Lisa said striaght-forwardly.

"Nice to meet you." Said Tom, extending a hand. Frank nodded his agreement and also extended a hand.

Susan smiled a greeting and took the offered hands, looking at Lisa with an arched eyebrow as she shook Frank's hand.

"Frank doesn't talk much. I think that's why he likes dance so much. No talking required." Lisa said, answering Susan's silent question. "Susan here," she said to Frank and Tom, "is a techie who's going to be using those skills to disrupt some Anti-Christian assemblies."

"Not if I can't get these power-points done." She said. "And to do that I need some peace and quiet."

"Okay, okay, we get it. Oh by the way, how are the web-sites going?" Lisa asked.

"See for yourself. I have them up on your computer, Lisa." Susan said, not looking up from her work.

They looked and immediately after praised God for their success. Then they looked at the sites.

"Wow, these are good, Susan." Eva said admiringly.

"I think our new friend did the Lord justice with these." Mark said approvingly.

"Thanks." Susan said, looking up for just a moment and seeing them adding their thoughts and experiences to the sites. Their reaction was better than what she had hoped for. She'd hoped that they would approve, but never in her wildest dreams had she thought that they would practically be fighting over the right to add their stuff to it.

"I especially like the title." Lisa said. "Satan Bashers has a nice ring to it."

"Oh, that's just up their until we've all agreed on one since the Internet won't take nameless sites." Susan said absent-mindedly. "I only picked Satan Bashers because, a) it sounds cool, and b) it's my way of making fun of the Jesus Bashing assemblies that will soon be happening."

"Well I like it. I think it should stay." Said Tom. The others all nodded their agreement.

"Oh, yea, Susan," Lisa said, "I got you an application and my mom is filling it out since your parents aren't around to do it. All you need to do is fill out the rest of it, turn it in, and starting next week you'll be officially enrolled in our school."

_AN: Okay, this is where I ask people for help. I need everyone who reviews to send in ideas for a school name since I can't think of one. I'll consider all of the ideas and pick my favorite. I might even combine some of them if it's doable._


	5. A New Evangelist

_AN: Since there's apparently some confusion about this, I'm going to clarify when this takes place in relation to the Rapture. This is a pre-Rapture story, not post-Rapture._

_Disclaimer: The character Angel Smith belongs solely to Scarlet Scarlet of the Wind._

The day Susan started school was gray, and rain was coming down in droves. Definitely, Susan decided, not a day to be outdoors.

But someone was. The silhouette of a girl running could just barely be seen. People who saw her wondered why she was running on a day like this, when even the most extreme runners stayed indoors, but didn't bother doing anything to satisfy their curiosity. The girl, on the other hand, was wondering where she could find a safe place to stay, if such a place existed. After roughly half an hour of hard running she saw a school building. Deciding that this was as safe a place as any, she went behind a nearby bush and collapsed from cold and exhaustion.

_At the end of the school day_

"I am never joining a new school." Susan said to her friends.

"Why?" Asked Lisa.

"Well…" Susan started to say before she trailed off, looking toward the bush a few feet to her left.

"What's wrong?" Asked Mark.

"I thought I heard something moving in that bush." She answered.

"Animals sometimes find their way into the bushes." Esther said. "Don't worry about it."

"Well I'm going to check it out just the same." Susan said resolutely as she walked over to the bush. When she got their she exclaimed "Someone's here," an exclamation that sent her friends running over.

When they got their the saw she was right. Their was indeed someone their. A thin girl with dirty blond hair, blue eyes and a long-sleeved black shirt with blue jeans. She was also shivering because she didn't have a coat, or even an umbrella to keep the rain that was still coming down off of her.

"Do you need help?" Asked Susan, bending down in front of her and exposing the cross that she was hiding under her red shirt.

"You're a Christian!" The girl exclaimed, excitedly pulling out her pocket sized Bible from an unseen pocket.

"So are the rest of us." Lisa said, extending a hand to the girl. "What's your name?"

"I'm Angel Smith." She said, taking the proffered hand. "I need a place to stay."

"Come to my place and you can dry off and tell your story."

At Lisa's house Angel's fairly tragic tale came out.

"I was raised in a Christian household." She began. "But after the persecution started my parents turned into Atheists. After their conversion, they threatened to beat, even kill me. So I did the only thing I could. I ran."

"You can stay with us." Lisa's mother said, putting a glass of hot tea in front of Angel.

"Could I?" Angel asked, hoping beyond hope that the answer would be yes.

"Of course you can. After all, we took in Susan without any hesitation." Lisa's mother said with a smile.

"And maybe you can help us." Susan said. "We're going to witness to people using whatever skills we have."

"Well, I can't do much more than sing, dance, and be an evangelist, but I'll use those skills for God's purpose.

"Then welcome to our little group, sister." Lisa said with a smile. "Let's get to work.

_AN: If any of you have any characters you want to see, just ask and send me a description of him or her._


	6. The First Sermon

_AN: First off, a thousand apologies for not updating in so long! Oh, yea, if anyone's looking for some good stuff to read, I highly recommend Flaming Quill and Scarlet Scarlet of the Wind, who just happens to own the character Angel Smith and asked me to write her in as well as italicized works. Those are from her Sermon. Also, their is a song reference in this chapter, don't own it. Their. Disclaimer taken care of._

The power-point was almost finished. And also extremely well-protected since Susan made a living off of protecting computers and different programs in her time. She had also shown them her favorite toy. It was a device that could fit in her pocket and allow her to access her computer from anywhere. The power-point was finished just in time, too. The first of the Christ-Bashing seminars was to start tomorrow.

"What if we get caught?" Eva asked.

"Well, the I-movie part of the power-point has all of your faces blurred out. The only clear thing is the motions you're doing. But I can blur some of your features if that makes you feel better." Susan said. Seeing that it was a comforting thought for them all, she went right to work making the few modifications that were needed to ensure the comfort of her friends. "The only problem is the colorguarders and the dancers. It's kinda hard to disguise that."

"Don't worry. The Lord will protect us." Lisa said. "Are you sure you can hack the speaker's system when he shows whatever movie is supposed to make us Christians seem like the scourge of the Earth?"

"Lisa, I spent six years hacking more advanced systems than what you have in your timeline. I can do it." Then she paused and added, "But I could use your prayers." As one the group of friends knelt down to pray, and they prayed in earnest.

_The next day_

The speaker had gone on for half an hour easy, and showed no signs of stopping any time soon.

"To end my lecture, I'd like to show you a video displaying what these so-called "born again Christians" who preach kindness but are really hypocrites do." The speaker said, hitting the play button on a remote that he had been holding the entire time.

The video showed horrible things that alleged Christians had done. Not five minutes into it, however, the video froze, and started flickering, new images trying to make their way onto the screen. Susan's hacking was a success.

The power-point slash I-movie had started. Some of the most powerful Christian songs and images started making their way across the screen.

"Shut it off!" The principle cried, but Susan was in charge now, and her other gadget made sure that her work kept going whatever else the faculty might try. And the Christian evangelists were seen and heard witnessing, with no one knowing who they were.

Perhaps the most important part of Susan's work was Angel's. She had the job of giving a small sermon, with the message subtitled because it was necessary to mask the voices to the point of being unrecognizable. Angel's sermon was bits and pieces of a sermon Susan had found online and had gotten permission to use.

"_Matthew 4:18-20. As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "And I will make you fishers of men." At once, they left their nets and followed him._

_And Jesus did not let them down, either. He carried them through. And he fulfilled his promise of making them fishers of men. Look at the latter books after the four Gospels. Do you think that Simon Peter and the rest of the disciples were changed by Jesus who called them? Of course! They were fishers of men._

_I have warnings, however. Fishers of men, you will get persecuted. You will be mocked by your own people, even! Many a trial will be hurled at you by the devil, for he is seeking whom he will devour - but he won't devour you, fishers of men. No, because God has ordained you for a purpose, whether it be a pastor, a mother, a father, a friend, a judge, a school superintendent, a lawyer, even a clerk or a fry cook. God has called you to help someone get to the Kingdom. And God will never let you go, unless you stray. Then He'll say, "Let them have it," and he'll let you have that temporary pleasure, that "instant" gratification. But after the high, there is a low. A big low. We're talking depression and being suicidal. Turning from God because you think he's not helping you. I understand what it feels like to just be a fisherman. But if you let God change you, then you can become a fisher of men. It's a big elevation from a fisherman._

_Do you want to become a fisher of men? I tell you, Jesus stands there, weeping over you, saying, "Come to me, and I will give you rest!" He sees your tired, broken form, by the Sea of Galilee, casting that net into the sea one more time, hoping for that catch, just one more time. And he doesn't want you to stay like that. He didn't die for nothing on the cross. He could have sent a legion of angels - and I bet you they were ready, too - but he said, "I want to die for my people because I love them." And he died for you on Calvary's Cross. Just for you. Please accept him today._

_If you want to accept him, scroll down and pray this prayer:_

_God, I heard your Message, and I see you calling me, just as you see me. Please, Lord, save me from this pit I've dug. Save me from everything I've done. Please cleanse my sin with your Blood. Take away all my burdens, because you want me to cast our cares to you because you care for us. I know that you have given me a purpose, please let me live it out. Let me become your fisher of men, and Lord, forgive me. I accept You, and your truth, and your endless love displayed on the cross on Calvary. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen. _

_Did you pray that prayer? If you did, then you are saved, washed from your sin. Get into a Bible-based church and indulge yourself in God's Word. If you don't own a Bible, there are millions of them online in many versions. The Lord loves you, my friend, and God bless you."_

The last thing Angel spoke of were the ABCs of Salvation: Admit you are a sinner. Believe that Christ died for you so that you might be forgiven of your sins. Confess your sins to God and you will be saved.

The last thing that people saw and heard was the song "This Blood" by Carman, coupled with an imaged of Christ, brutally beaten and whipped, hanging on a cross. The image faded out slowly, then it ended.

"How did Susan manage to keep everyone in here?" Lisa asked.

"By locking all the doors with us inside them." Susan said emerging from her hiding place and pocketing her tools, and her laptop.

"How'd you get that out of your locker?" Frank asked.

"Before the assembly, I asked to go to the bathroom, my locker is right next to it. I hadn't planned on getting my laptop, but it did make it easier to hack into the system."

"What if some people made it out of the gym?" Angel asked.

"The doors were closed the second everyone was in here. I locked the doors well before my hacking job." Susan said.

"Do you think we succeeded?" Eva asked.

"I saw some people crying, and others moving their lips. I can only assume that they were praying the Sinner's Prayer." Joe said.

"Well, we got the message out, at least. And if we managed to bring even one person to the Lord we did our job." Mark said.

"Who are you?" Susan said, looking up suddenly and seeing someone standing right in front of them. Someone who had heard their entire conversation.


	7. Andrew

__

AN: To everyone who wants tme o kill for not updating, you're justified. I'd want to kill me, too. So I'm very sorry and I'll try not to do it again. Disclaimer: Much as I want to, I never have, and never will own the character Angel Smith. She is the sole property of Scarlet Scarlet of the Wind. (Lucky)

"Answer me! Who are you?" Susan demanded, and then she saw the tears on the stranger's face.

"I'm Andrew, and your power-point really hit home for me." He said in a shaky voice. "I remembered Lisa and her friends being Christians so I decided to look for them after what I saw. When I accidentally overheard your conversation, I knew I was right. Nice hacking job, by the way."

"Thanks, I'm rather proud of it myself." Susan said proudly.

"Susan, why are you trusting him so easily?" Eva demanded.

"One, he already knows, so I may as well just admit it. Two, look just behind him." When the rest of them did, they saw what Susan had already seen.

"It'sit's" Lisa stuttered.

"An angel," Angel said in awe, "An angel, standing just behind him."

"It's leaving!" Frank exclaimed.

"To be replaced by a glow," Mark said in wonder.

"I thought you people already knew about it, since it's around all of you." Andrew said.

"I just thought it was a trick of the light." Allis said.

"We were praying for a way to identify believers." John said. "I guess this is God's way of doing it."

"Welcome, brother." Lisa said, embracing Andrew.

__

AN: Bad, I know, but I have writer's block. This is the best I could do.


	8. Greetings From the 22nd Century

_I own this story, and all characters but Angel. That's it._

After school that day, the group of Christians all saw a boy about their age with nothing more than a computer bag waiting outside the school.

"Alex?" Susan exclaimed in shock.

"Oh my goodness! Susan?" The boy, now known as Alex exclaimed, equally surprised. The two ran towards each other and embraced.

"How'd you get here?" Susan demanded.

"Same way you did. The Lord." He said in an 'Isn't it obvious?' tone of voice.

"Wait a second. What's going on here?" Lisa asked.

"Oh, right. Everyone, this is Alex. The friend that brought me to the Lord. And also the only other person in the 22nd century who can hack into a system better than I can."

"I can not." He answered. Then he turned to the rest of them. "Nice to meet you all. But, no offense, I'm especially glad to see a familiar face. I was afraid that I would be alone here."

"Yea, well you got it easy. I was alone here, in a time-sense, at least. But now, I have a friend from my time who can help spread the word through computers. But first, how are things back home?"

"Well, no one's noticed you're missing, so I'm going to assume that it's still the same day you left. But you mentioned evangelizing?"

"When we get to Lisa's house." Susan said quietly.

"No way! You're Lisa Beldon." Alex said with a trace of awe in his voice. "Any hacker who can find about you admires you big time. You and your friends. Your journals are saved in government files, hidden under the best security systems. So it's only us hacks who can find them."

"Why?" Lisa asked, upset because she was really hoping they'd get published.

"Alex!" Susan exclaimed, annoyed at her friend. "They're not supposed to know that." She said quietly.

"Oops." Was the best Alex could manage.

"Just promise that you'll still attempt to get them published. It's essential."

"Sure." Lisa said, all though she was still pretty upset.

"Okay, then. The reason your journal entries are so well hidden is because the government classified them in the hopes of avoiding a world-wide riot against them. If the world knew that the government approved of controlling religion, people would revolt, and chaos would reign. They would be unstable for years, possibly even until the antichrist. If it makes you feel better, though, rumors of what happened started to spread, and I searched the Internet until I found that it was indeed true. It was Alex's and my project. I'd told him that I'd found it, and sent him the instructions, leaving him to do the hacking. We'd agreed that whoever found the details first got dibs on deciding what to do with it. When I started reading your journals I made up my mind to publish them online, at a popular site that I helped make. They will be read, Lisa. And what will happen as a result will happen."

"Like you getting arrested?" Joe asked.

"If that happens, that happens. I already published all of them anyway."

"Did they mention the two of you?" Lisa asked, even though she knew she hadn't written about Susan in any of her entries.

"No, and that's a good thing. Keep not mentioning that we helped. Two people from 3040 in the year 2020 will not be believable and just an all-around bad thing to mention."

"All right." Lisa said solemnly. "Now let's get to my house so that we can start planing our evangelistic outreach."

_Hope y'all like the new character that I own. I wanted to write someone else from Susan's time in, all though initially he was going to be trying to foil Susan and the rest. Oh well. I like it better this way._


	9. Arrest

They were all in Lisa's house, which had become the haven for believers for two reasons. One: Lisa was an inspiration to them, because she was the first to get injured for Christ and she was also the author of the journals, and two: Her house was huge, with a basement that could be, and had been, converted into a Church. Lisa's dad was a minister of the local church before it got shut down, so they could have service Sunday's and Wednesday's without a problem. The techies were in charge of projecting the words of songs and power points that went along with the message on the screen, the musician's of the group led the worship, and their were regular human videos.

The regular services had been going on for four months without incident by the grace of God. But sometimes, Satan gets his way.

It was a Wednesday service, and all the believers were relishing in the presence of God when the door was broken open and police officers stormed in. It wasn't the first time they had come. Everybody knew Mr. Beldon's job, and the most logical place to hold secret services was the Beldon house for its large size. However, the times before someone had seen then coming, so they were able to abruptly halt the service and look like they were doing something else, usually watching a movie that was carefully non-Christian. This time they had been caught doing something illegal, and their was no way to hide it. They were all arrested then and their, and Susan and Alex's computers were confiscated for evidence.

"You are being arrested on the charge of illegal Christian worship. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…" The chief of police started reading them their rights, while the other officers were slapping hand cuff on their wrists.

_"Lord, help us!"_ Was the thought of the small band of Christians, who, even though it wasn't mentioned, had the right to be terrified. All of the high-schoolers looked towards Mr. Beldon, their spiritual leader, to see that he was crying silently, but they also saw his lips moving in a silent prayer. That was enough to give them some grain of hope, as was Eva's next action.

Silently, almost so silently they weren't sure if they were really hearing it, Eva started to hum. Joe, who was closest to her, recognized it and picked it up. Soon all of them started humming, which turned into singing. It was a song that gave them great comfort considering the words of the song.

_Amazing, grace, how sweet, the sound_

_That saved, a wretch, like me!_

_I once, was lost, but now I'm found._

_Was blind, but now, I see!"_

Quiet!" The chief of police offered.

"It's been a while, Brad." Mr. Beldon said. "We've missed you in church."

"I said quiet!" The officer, now known to be Brad, one of the ushers at the church, yelled. The small band ceased their song, but it had done its job; it gave them peace. And their wasn't one person in the band of believers that didn't sing it in his or her mind. So, in cuffs and before the eyes of the entire town, not to mention the news cameras, the small church was led into the squad cars. They went quietly, for the most part.

At the site of the news cameras, Angel, ever the evangelist, screamed, "Jesus is the only way to salvation! Accept him into your hearts and join the family of believers!" That comment got a rousing "Amen!" from her friends. Even in this situation, the Lord was there, even though he didn't free them from their imprisonment, He did give them a way to spread His message through Angel; who had taken advantage of five words the reporter said as they were being herded out: 'We're coming to you live…'.

* * *

At the station, they were searched and interrogated. When the officer's had searched Susan and Alex, they found the pocket-sized devices that enabled access to their computers from anywhere.

"What's this?" A female cop asked Susan.

"A pen-drive."

"Never seen a pen-drive like this. They usually don't have so many buttons."

"It's specially designed."

"By whom?"

"A friend of mine."

"The boy who had an identical device?"

"Yes." She hadn't told a lie. Alex really had made them, and an alternative use for them was as a pen-drive.

"You know that we could easily find out if your lying."

"Then I guess it's a good thing I'm telling the truth." The cop then pulled out her laptop and turned it on, only to find out that everything on there was password protected.

"What's the password?"

"Which one?"

"To access the computer!"

"If I told you, that would defeat the purpose of having a password, now wouldn't it.

"You said 'which one?', how many passwords are their?"

"One for every document."

"And you expect me to believe you know all of them?"

"That's your choice, but I won't tell you my passwords."

"Listen, kid, if you cooperate, this will go a lot smoother."

* * *

In other interrogation rooms, the others were going through similar problems.

Allis, the youngest and most vulnerable of the group, was in tears because her interrogator had grilled her so hard and asked so many questions in so many different ways trying to make her contradict herself.

* * *

After hours of this, they were all thrown into different cells.

"Is everyone all right?" Lisa asked.

"Tiered, and I have a huge headache, but other than that I'm all right." Alex answered. Allis only nodded.

"Allis? Are you all right?" Mrs. Beldon asked, seeing the girl's expression.

"I'm fine." Allis whispered.

"Wait, where's Susan?"" Alex asked, worried for his childhood friend.

"I don't know, I thought she was in here." Lisa said.

"She doesn't handle police stations very well. Before she started making fire walls, she turned herself in for her crimes. She served her time, which would have been longer, but the judge gave her a lighter ruling because she was a minor and she had turned herself in willingly. But ever since then she's had a huge fear of police officers." Alex said somberly.

Five minutes later, half an hour after they had been put into cells, Susan was brought in and thrown none-to-gently in her cell.

"Maybe next time you'll be more cooperative." The officer told her before walking. But before they could ask Susan if she was okay, the chief walked in.

"We've just received word from the Governer that we don't have to be gentle to you Christians." He said coldly before turning around and walking out.

"Susan, are you okay?" Alex asked.

"Lord, help me!" She cried before breaking down in tears.

"What happened?" Lisa asked after the outburst was over.

"I wouldn't tell them what they wanted to know. They wanted to access my computer, but I didn't give them the passwords."

"I gave the wrong password and the hard-drive blew, now even I can't turn it on until it's fixed and then reformatted and I do a lot of other stuff to it." Alex said.

"Mine doesn't do that, so I can't give them the passwords, it's essential!" Lisa said, her fear evident.

"Because of the power points?" Lisa asked, not sure why those would be that big a deal, but still, you never know.

"Our computers have programs on them that haven't been designed yet. That's why we always insisted you didn't look when we turned them on and continue to not look until we've put up what we wanted."

"It's also why I made the site on your computer, Lisa."

"Well what can you do? You heard what Brad said, they can beat us up and get away with it if we don't cooperate." Allis said.

"Let's ask God for guidance." Mr. Beldon said quietly. That was an idea that they could all agree with, so they took turns praying out loud, asking the Lord for strength to bring them through this ordeal.

Then, Eva started to sing the song 'I Am Free', and they all picked up the chorus.

_I am free to run!_

_I am free to run!_

_I am free to dance!_

_I am free to dance!_

_I am free to live for You!_

_I am free to live for You!_

_I am free!_

_I am free!_

* * *

_AN: Well, I hope that this satisfies any anger that you might have with me for not updating in so long. All disclaimers apply_


	10. Earl and Adam

_Disclaimer: I don't own Angel Smith or her first comment in this chapter._

"That's a strange song to be singing in jail cells." Said one of the in-mates. An old man who probably didn't have that much time left on Earth.

"Oh, be quiet, Earl!" Said another man, not much younger than the first one. "If those kids want to sing, than let 'em sing! At least it seems to make them happy."

"I didn't say that I didn't want them to sing, Adam. I was just saying that saying 'I am free' is a strange thing in a jail song. But you did bring up a good point. What are you young folks doing here? Youth convicts are supposed to go to juvie."

"I broke a rule. I prayed in school. I'm a real dangerous person." Angel said, paraphrasing a notebook cover she once saw.

"Oh. I see. Your crime was being Christian, the forbidden religion." Earl said. "Well, if you hadn't still worshipped, you wouldn't be here."

"We couldn't stop worshipping the Lord. It's as necessary for us as breathing." Lisa said, trying to make these two elderly gentlemen understand.

"Hey, listen, we've been to church, we know the lingo and all that stuff." Earl said.

"But did you pray the sinner's prayer and mean it?" Susan asked, having recovered from her outburst.

"No. We never bought into it." Adam said. That was all Mr. Beldon needed to start preaching. For half an hour he preached to the two gentlemen, with his wife, daughter, and his daughter's friends speaking up when they felt moved to. After the half hour was up, Adam looked moved, and even Earl, who though they did not know it was a hard, cynical man, looked stirred.

"If you believe in what I've said and want to know the Lord as your personal savior, then repeat after me:

Dear, Jesus, I thank you for coming to Earth. I thank you for dying for my sins, even though you did not have to. I admit to my sins, and ask you to forgive them. I ask you right now to come into my life, and to be my personal Lord and Savior. Amen." None of them heard Earl or Adam say the prayer, but when they looked at them, they had the glow that God was using to mark the believers in this time.

"The angels are rejoicing, brothers." Lisa said. Angel was to moved to speak, as were most of them. Then Earl, who had been watching Susan ever since she was brought in spoke up.

"Hey, kid. You look like my sister. She was the one who actually bought into this 'religion' stuff. I went for her, and Adam just tagged along. She got married recently."

"What's her name?" Susan asked, genuinely curious.

"Susan. Married some guy named Aaron Alston." All of them suppressed their surprise.

"Interesting." Was all Susan said._ "I was told that I was named after my great-great-great grandmother." _She thought. _"I just never thought I'd meet a relative of hers."_

"Yea, it sure is. You could be her twin, you look so similar." Earl was saying.

"What's your last name, Sir?" Mr. Beldon asked.

"Mine, well it's Jordon. Earl Jordon's my full name."

_"That's my last name!"_ Alex thought with surprise, he and Susan locked eyes. They knew it was possible, but neither of them had actually expected to meet their ancestors, or relatives of them."

"Now that I look at you, kid, you look like my brother. Not as close as the girl looks like my sister, but still close. He also got married not to long ago. Strange, isn't it?"

"Very strange." Alex agreed. _"You don't know the half of it."_ He thought to himself.

As great as the joy was in that room, it wasn't meant to last. The door opened, and Brad walked in.


	11. Martyr

_AN: Wow, it's been a while. I've had major writer's block on this fic so it might be a while between updates, but I'm not gonna scrap it.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Angel Smith.

* * *

_

The Christians, both old and new, tried to hide their fear at Brad's entry, but Susan couldn't help a small tremor from being seen.

"You! The brat who wouldn't talk! Come with me." He ordered, opening her jail cell and grabbing her none-too-gently by the arms, slapping cuffs back on her and all but dragging her out.

"I knew that Brad could be tough if he had to, but this gives the phrase 'police brutality' a knew meaning." Lisa said, sad that Brad, a man she had once regarded as a friend, could be so harsh to Susan. Mr. and Mrs. Beldon gave Lisa comforting looks, but remained quiet, as did the rest of them, well, mostly.

"Don't you dare harm her! She hasn't done anything wrong!" Alex screamed, doing what all prisoners seem to do at one point in time and grabbing the bars of his cell, trying for all the world to break out.

"We'll harm her if we want to." One of the jailers spat. "But, it'll go easier on her if she talks like a good girl."

"If you harm her I'll-"

"Alex, calm down. Getting angry isn't going to help her." Mr. Beldon said calmly. "She's in God's hands, and He will protect her."

Slowly, with a great amount of effort, Alex managed to calm down, taking deep, regular breaths.

"We've been friends for years." He said, not caring that the jailers could hear him. "If I ever got into trouble of any kind she was always there. Sometimes all it took was a few kind words, sometimes a bully got a tongue-lashing, or sometimes it was as simple as a money loan. She was there. And I was there for her."

"It's good that you two have such a close friendship." Mrs. Beldon said, hoping to encourage Alex to talk. It was sometimes the best medicine.

"I'm almost positive that's why she agreed to read the Bible for a week. I know she was humoring me."

"It's because you were that close that you could do it. If your relationship wasn't that way your attempts could have pushed her farther away instead of bringing her closer."

"I know, Lisa. That's why I didn't do it at other times. Sometimes she was more receptive to the Truth than others, it was during one of those times that I asked her to read the best book ever written." Alex tried to smile, but failed miserably. "Oh, God, keep her safe!" He cried, breaking down and letting the tears he had been so desperately fighting come out.

* * *

_In the interrogation room_

"Don't make me ask you again! What are the passwords" Brad shouted, getting ready to hit Susan for the fifth time.

"What if I were to type it myself and you watched and wrote it down?" Susan asked.

"Fine, just so long as we get access." Brad growled at her.

Susan sat down, booted her computer and got ready to type. She paused momentarily to say a small prayer, then shoved her laptop with all her might, wincing slightly as it crashed to the ground, breaking instantly.

"You little…!" Screaming profanities that no one should have to hear, coming from the mouth of a former Christian no less, Brad repeatedly struck Susan until she was unconcious. When she woke a few minutes later, she saw Brad pacing the room. When he saw she was conscious, he pulled her up and forced her against the wall. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you now." He snarled.

"Go ahead. I eagerly await being with my Heavenly Father." She said boldly, though inside she was terrified, not of death, but of not being able to say good-bye to her friends.

Those words, however, were apparently a very good reason to not kill her, as Brad threw her to the ground, forced her onto her stomach, re-cuffed her, and walked her back to the prison area, where she was again thrown into her cell.

"Susan!" Alex exclaimed, overjoyed to see his friend alive and almost well. "No offense, but you look awful." He said, trying for some humor to get the ghosts out of her eyes. She got like that sometimes, where she wouldn't see anyone or anything that was really there, but instead see events from the past. He would always try and do something to snap her out of it, usually a comment like that worked, and, true to form, it was a success again.

"Like you'd look any better after what went on in there." She snapped.

"Susan, I know that you wouldn't give them the passwords, but those bruises seems a little extreme." Lisa said.

"Well, the minor ones are for my stubbornness and absolute refusal to talk. The major ones are because I broke my laptop."

"You what? Susan, it took me months to make that thing!" Alex exclaimed, trying to seem more annoyed that she broke the computer than that she willingly did something that got her severely beaten. She wasn't fooled.

"I'm glad you care." She said genuinely. "And if the laptop's that big of a deal, I'll pay you for it."

"Never mind. I'm just glad he didn't kill you."

"He almost did, then I said that I looked forward to meeting God and he changed his mind. I guess it's no fun if I don't beg for mercy."

"Or it could be the prayers we were all giving for you." Mrs. Beldon said.

"Probably." If Susan had more to say, she didn't say it, because Brad walked in, carrying in his hand Susan and Alex's pen-drives.

"It would seem that they won't work in our computers." He said, giving them accusing looks.

"I made our computers and pen-drives. Of course they won't work in another computer." Alex said, figuring that their wasn't any harm in telling them now, the tools were useless to them. He designed the computers and pen-drives that way as a precautionary measure. They were hackers, after all. It wouldn't do for their hard-to-find materials to be discovered, hence the many passwords. While they only hacked into computers that held illegal information, or information on persecutions like the one they were living in, hacking was hacking.

"Who designed the site?" Brad asked.

"Me." Susan said.

"What makes it so different from other sites? We've tried everything we could to hack into it to no avail." He was certain that that web-site held a treasure trove of evidence that could be used against them, if only they could get in!

"I design fire-walls for a living. You don't think I can protect as important a site as that?" She was trying to make him angry, as was Alex. They tended to think along the same lines and their thoughts were on one thing only: they needed those pen-drives!

"And this is the esteemed Bridgetown police force?" Alex scoffed. "You all seem pretty useless to me, at least were technology is concerned.

That was it. In a fit of rage, Brad threw the pen-drives at Alex, both of them landing in his cell. Then he stormed off, too angry to even strike him, which he was now allowed to do. During the time that the jailers weren't looking, Alex sent Susan's drive to her. They were set. All they needed was for night to fall and for the jailers to hopefully fall asleep.

* * *

_That night_

"Wake up!" Alex hissed harshly.

"What's wrong?" Lisa asked sleepily.

"The guards are asleep, now's our chance." Susan whispered.

"Chance for what?" Mark asked.

"The slightly more technical jail-busting of modern-day Paul and Silus." Alex said.

"How?" Angel asked, now fully awake as were the others.

"You asked earlier why we told Brad so much information." Susan said. "We told him nothing that would jeopardize us, and we needed him angry enough to throw the pen-drives."

"Why?" Frank asked.

"These pen-drives have one unnecessary feature for what their main purpose is, to store information." Alex said.

"What?" Tom asked.

"Sometimes, we need to open components in our computers but don't have the proper tools on hand, so Alex installed a wire in our pen-drives. When one of us forgets our key they make great lock-picking devices." Susan said, picking at the lock as she spoke, with Alex doing the same. When their cells opened, the group could have cheered.

Quickly, but quietly the two got the other cells opened and made their way out to what should have been safety, but it was not to be.

Officers immediately opened fire on them, and while they all managed to escape, it wasn't unscathed.

"Lisa!" Allis cried out, seeing a ghastly wound once they had stopped for breath in a near-by alley. None of them were doctors, but they could all see that she was going to die.

None of them moved from that spot, all of them praying for a miracle until Lisa breathed her last. All of them cried bitterly, but Mr. Beldon reminded them that they had to escape. Lisa died a martyr, and they had to make sure it wasn't pointless. So, with not more than a brief prayer session the band of Christians ran for their lives.

* * *

  
_AN: Am I _allowed_ to kill my main character? Well, those of you who expected a death, it happened.  
_


	12. Warriors

_AN: __This is where I fill in all the major plot-holes that I can think of as well as other errors._

_Disclaimer: __I don't own Angel Smith and the only Bible I own is a Study Bible.

* * *

_After the group had been running for what seemed like hours-a thing that Angel proved by looking at her watch-they sat down to mourn and talk about Lisa. All of the younger ones were wondering what they would do without their unofficial 'leader.'

"Remember the day I first came?" Asked Alex with a sad smile. "Susan said that we were from the 22nd century, and Lisa asked why she said that when we're from the 31st century."

"I remember that." Susan said with a laugh. "I told her that it's something of an inside joke between us, because technology from the 22nd century is, in our opinion, better than the technology that we have, so we decided to pretend that we were from that century instead of our own. I simply forgot that you didn't know that."

"I remember when this whole mess first started." Alice said. "Initially I thought that we'd missed the Rapture and the antichrist was taking control. Lisa was the one who assured me we hadn't."

"How did it start? Lisa's journal never really explained that." Susan asked.

"Well, it seemed innocent enough at first." Mark said. "All of the world leaders decided that they should meet to discuss important and highly political things that only they care about when it comes to leading our countries." He smiled bitterly, not only because of how wrong that assumption was, but because Lisa's death had hit him the hardest. Being an only child, Lisa's immediate acceptance of him made it seem like he had a sister.

"Well, after they returned we found out that the Christian community was in trouble." Eva picked up. "We don't know who said what, but somehow Christianity got blamed for all of the world's problems."

"We should have realized something was wrong when _all_ of the world leaders agreed to this sudden meeting in a time of peace. But since none of us have any particular interest in politics, we thought that this was normal." Alice added. "After that meeting the mass persecution started. Either because the people agreed or were afraid of getting in trouble we were getting injured."

"Do you remember Lisa mentioning that she got a near broken-wrist?" Frank asked. When the others nodded he continued. "That happened after school. We'd agreed to keep our guard up constantly and travel in a group, all of the standard precautionary measures. Well, we were running late and Lisa was reading her Bible when some of our class-mates jumped her."

"I remember that." Andrew spoke up. "I was part of it." He added, ashamed of himself. "She would have actually had a broken wrist and then some if you hadn't shown up when you did and intervened on her behalf. Somehow, the large mob that we formed just couldn't stand up to your small group." Andrew paused, looking thoughtful about something. "Come to think of it, it was that event that opened my heart to receive your message." Seeing the look on Mark's face after he told them that he had attacked Lisa he quickly added, "I apologized and she forgave me without hesitating."

"That's Lisa for you." Mark said. "You could have permanently paralyzed her and be forgiven."

"Now you're exaggerating." Andrew said, certain that even the Godliest of them, which Lisa almost definitely was, would have a hard time forgiving under _those_ circumstances.

"Who knows?" Frank added, knowing that it was improbable, but not impossible for Mark's words to be true. Lisa was a very forgiving person. Sometimes he wondered if it really _was_ possible to be too forgiving, even though he knew otherwise.

Even though none of them wanted to keep going, Mr. Beldon insisted that they get up and start moving again. "It would not be to anyone's benefit if we were caught again." He said calmly. "Come on. I know a place we can stay for a while and plan."

"Plan for what?" Susan asked, although she had a pretty good idea already.

"Our next move. After all, we're at war with Satan." He said, his eyes dark with rage for what had happened to his daughter because of Satan's attacks. "He may have won so far, but we're not giving up anytime soon. Like the apostle Paul said, 'I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength'."

"He's right." Susan said. "The enemy may think that Lisa's death will discourage us, but for me at least, it makes me more determined to fight." The others nodded.

"Let's go." Mr. Beldon said again. Their experience in jail had changed them all. They weren't just bystanders in this war. He could see it in their eyes. The doubt and fear was gone. Now they were warriors._

* * *

AN: This story is complete, but__ I have a vague idea of where I want the sequel to go, so I hope to have that started within a week. Do me a favor and pray about that. Thanks to TheGreenElephant911 for pointing out my mistake.  
_


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